Wednesday, July 16, 2014

Determined devotion saves us from all disgraceful situations

More
than the drops of the water in all the oceans we might have committed sins in
our past lives and also in our present life. Many protests saying that why are
we being punished for our sins which we do not even remember. True, due to our
limited and tiny senses and mind we tend to forget most of the things which we
do in our life. A child may not remember his childhood but his father knows
every detail about his child’s activities. Similarly the Supreme Lord is
totally cognizant about our previous activities. It is not that he simply keeps
on punishing us. In fact he is unwilling to see us suffer. Whatever token
punishment comes in our life is just to remind us that we reap what we sow and
so we should be extra cautious about our actions.

Lord
gives us many opportunities to burn our sins and lead a happy and fulfilling
life. How it can be done is explained in Srimad Bhagavatam through the story of
Prsadhra. Prsadhra was the son of Vaivasvata Manu [Sraddhadeva].
He had been given the responsibility of
protecting the cows. Once in a dark and cloudy night a tiger attacked the cows.
Prsadhra immediately went to rescue the cows. And in the melee and due to
darkness he mistakenly killed a cow instead of the ferocious tiger. He profusely
repented for it. But sadly his spiritual master cursed him to take a low birth
in the next life. Prsadhra did not want to suffer. So the first thing he did
was that he renounced everything of this world – both physically and mentally. And
then he fixed his mind completely on the Supreme God, Vasudeva, and began executing
devotional service with utmost faith and determination. By doing this he was
successful in nullifying the curse and whatever sins might be there in his
life. After achieving purity and love of God he was easily able to transcend
this world and he effortlessly entered the spiritual world. His determined
devotion saved him from leading an ignominious life in this world.

So
if we have been put into difficulty due to our past misdeeds then we should not be morose. There is a way to get out of all
the unpalatable situations. We just have to take shelter of the Supreme and
benevolent God. He will purify us and we then can have a peaceful, dignified
and secure life.